Predict the plot of SkyFall

Using all of the info, photos, callsheets etc we have so far, anyone care to take a crack at predicting how it will all piece together? The callsheets can be put into order, locations can be identified to some extent if we assume the Far East stuff is the villain lair, Bond and M seem to be on the run from an attack on London and end up in Scotland, Bond's parents probably have something to do with things, Bardem probably comes over from somewhere else to play a part in the attack while disguised as a police officer.... Naomie Harris could be Moneypenny, the other girl gives Bond a shave in the Far East and probably with extras.... No idea where Ralph Fiennes or Albert Finney come into it yet (possibly a modern-day Wint & Kidd, but something tells me humour isn't this era's strong point), but we can always speculate. Any takers?

Jack WadeChief Executive

Posts : 2014Member Since : 2011-03-15Location : Uranus

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Wed Mar 14, 2012 2:48 pm

Well, we know the film looks something like this so far:

PTS is a set piece involving trains and motorbikes in Turkey. Cut to London, where shit blows up. Bond then goes to Shanghai to investigate. Returns to London and wraps the film at the manor house.

trevanianChief Executive

Posts : 1385Member Since : 2011-03-15Location : Pac NW

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Wed Mar 14, 2012 2:53 pm

Well then, on to speculation about Bond 24, now that this one is all figured out.

I'm thinking it will have a pre title sequence, followed by a title sequence with song. Who's next?

Prisoner MonkeysChief Executive

Posts : 2849Member Since : 2011-10-29Location : Located

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:28 pm

My best guess is that it will revolve around an off-the-books operation code-named "Skyfall" that made several careers, but was covered up because it was illegal. Javier Bardem's character, Silva, was "created" as a result of this operation - MI6 might have willingly sold him out in order to identify a foreign agent working in London. Ten or fifteen years later, he has managed to identify the key players in Operation Skyfall, and is intended to kill them off. When MI6 is attacked, Bond is assigned to the case, and realises that it is more than a simple terrorist attack when one of the dead agents is discovered some distance from the actual scene of the crime (suggesting that whoever carried out the attack had to go looking for him).

A subplot would involve Ralph Fiennes carrying out a review of M's leadership, which he does under the direction of Albert Finney. However, Fiennes begins to suspect that Finney has an ulterior motive: removing M from her position, taking control of MI6, and then using his new-found power to derail the investigation into Silva because he is complicit in it. Fiennes passes evidence onto Bond that Finney is not acting in the interests of the agency, which Bond uses to force him into standing down. At the end of the film, Bond preserves the integrity of MI6 by stopping details of Operation Skyfall from being released to the public, but is unable to stop the politicians from finding out about it. Finney and M are forced to resign over the affair.

Napoleon SoloExperienced Correspondent

Posts : 221Member Since : 2011-09-08

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Wed Mar 14, 2012 11:39 pm

I suspect M ends up being killed, rather than merely being forced to resign. I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

Gravity's SilhouetteChief Executive

Posts : 3920Member Since : 2011-04-16Location : Inside my safe space

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:46 am

Napoleon Solo wrote:

I suspect M ends up being killed, rather than merely being forced to resign. I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

No, she's quite alive at the end of this movie based upon the call sheets, unless there is a scene involving her death that is going to be filmed with a bare-bones crew only and nothing listed about it in the script (like Anakin's death in Return of the Jedi, or the ADR James Earl Jones did where he reveals he is Luke's father in Empire Strikes Back). I *believe* she is with Bond at the Skyfall lodge towards the end of the film.

I believe that Bond's parents didn't really die in a skiing accident, but were on a mission for HMSS that went bad and were assassinated. Young Bond believed it was an accident because that's what governments sometimes have to do: spread disinformation. Somehow, M, when she was an up-and-coming politician in the Thatcher Administration, had oversight or a connection to the mission that Bond's parents were on, and now that past is being used to come back and blackmail her (and possibly Bond). In the end Bond will forgive M for sending his parents off on a deadly mission because he's a spy himself and understands the risks. He'll gain a new found respect for his parents that he hadn't before. M will offer to resign, but Bond tells her not to. That assuages her guilt, somewhat, but she decides that she's too old for this and tenders her retirement.

Napoleon SoloExperienced Correspondent

Posts : 221Member Since : 2011-09-08

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:10 am

I also believe she's with Bond in Scotland, but isn't there a scene after that with Bond and Eve on a rooftop back in London? Possibly (and this is trictly me speculating admittedly): 1) crescendo in Scotland 2) Bond triumps but M dies (which would be done in the studio and not included on those location call sheets) 3) Back in London, Bond and Eve pay a visit on, let's say for argument's sake, Albert Finney.

Or maybe not.

Gravity's SilhouetteChief Executive

Posts : 3920Member Since : 2011-04-16Location : Inside my safe space

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Thu Mar 15, 2012 4:22 am

Napoleon Solo wrote:

I also believe she's with Bond in Scotland, but isn't there a scene after that with Bond and Eve on a rooftop back in London? Possibly (and this is trictly me speculating admittedly): 1) crescendo in Scotland 2) Bond triumps but M dies (which would be done in the studio and not included on those location call sheets) 3) Back in London, Bond and Eve pay a visit on, let's say for argument's sake, Albert Finney.

Or maybe not.

I'm too lazy to look back at the information on the clapperboards that have been posted, but I think that M is with Bond in Scotland at the very end of the movie and I'm willing to bet she's with Bond at the cemetery and that this scene with him takes place after the assault on the castle and the main plot is wrapped up.

Is it just me or is this M's largest role to date? Having seen the movie laid out the way you've listed it, one does get the feeling that this film is very much about M and may be her big send-off (not suggesting she's being killed off, but simply being given her largest role and pay day to date knowing that she's finished with the series after this film).

Napoleon SoloExperienced Correspondent

Posts : 221Member Since : 2011-09-08

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Thu Mar 15, 2012 4:42 am

//London Rooftop - Scene 172 //

Bond and Eve take M's ashes to the top of a building in her beloved London. They open the container with the ashes and spread them to the London winds.

Is it just me or is this M's largest role to date? Having seen the movie laid out the way you've listed it, one does get the feeling that this film is very much about M and may be her big send-off (not suggesting she's being killed off, but simply being given her largest role and pay day to date knowing that she's finished with the series after this film).

IF she gets the top billing after the title (Craig, of course, being billed before the title), I would say yes.

Prisoner MonkeysChief Executive

Posts : 2849Member Since : 2011-10-29Location : Located

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:28 am

Napoleon Solo wrote:

//London Rooftop - Scene 172 //

Bond and Eve take M's ashes to the top of a building in her beloved London. They open the container with the ashes and spread them to the London winds.

Or not.

Vomit.

Gravity's SilhouetteChief Executive

Posts : 3920Member Since : 2011-04-16Location : Inside my safe space

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:32 am

Well, isn't the standard rule in directing a movie from the script to the screen that one page of the script equals about one minute of film time?

We know, roughly, how many scenes there could be, but how many pages should there be? QOS was too short; needlessly too short, so I'm hoping we get back to those 2.25 hour Bond movies...or even longer. I want to be fully banged for my buck.

Napoleon SoloExperienced Correspondent

Posts : 221Member Since : 2011-09-08

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:07 am

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Napoleon Solo wrote:

//London Rooftop - Scene 172 //

Bond and Eve take M's ashes to the top of a building in her beloved London. They open the container with the ashes and spread them to the London winds.

Or not.

Vomit.

As I said before, I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

Prisoner MonkeysChief Executive

Posts : 2849Member Since : 2011-10-29Location : Located

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:27 am

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Well, isn't the standard rule in directing a movie from the script to the screen that one page of the script equals about one minute of film time?

We know, roughly, how many scenes there could be, but how many pages should there be? QOS was too short; needlessly too short, so I'm hoping we get back to those 2.25 hour Bond movies...or even longer. I want to be fully banged for my buck.

For some reason, the Turkish reporters who are updating filming in Adana reckon the film is only ninety minutes long ... but I doubt that's the case - there's very little to support that idea.

Using scene #172 as a guide, I'm led to believe that SKYFALL will be of similar length to CASINO ROYALE.

lachesisChief Executive

Posts : 1588Member Since : 2011-09-20Location : Nottingahm, UK

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:26 pm

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

Using scene #172 as a guide, I'm led to believe that SKYFALL will be of similar length to CASINO ROYALE.

Urrghh Here's hoping it won't feel as long!

Prisoner MonkeysChief Executive

Posts : 2849Member Since : 2011-10-29Location : Located

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:07 pm

I think CASINO ROYALE feels so long because it's really two films: the 'airport chapter' and the 'casino chapter'. They're really two separate stories that merge into one another.

AMC HornetSenior Correspondent

Posts : 823Member Since : 2011-08-19Location : Station 'C' - Canada

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:00 am

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

I'm hoping we get back to those 2.25 hour Bond movies...or even longer. I want to be fully banged for my buck.

Hear, hear.Uh, I think....

Prisoner MonkeysChief Executive

Posts : 2849Member Since : 2011-10-29Location : Located

Subject: Re: Predict the plot of SkyFall Sat Apr 07, 2012 7:16 pm

Prisoner Monkeys wrote:

My best guess is that it will revolve around an off-the-books operation code-named "Skyfall" that made several careers, but was covered up because it was illegal. Javier Bardem's character, Silva, was "created" as a result of this operation - MI6 might have willingly sold him out in order to identify a foreign agent working in London. Ten or fifteen years later, he has managed to identify the key players in Operation Skyfall, and is intended to kill them off. When MI6 is attacked, Bond is assigned to the case, and realises that it is more than a simple terrorist attack when one of the dead agents is discovered some distance from the actual scene of the crime (suggesting that whoever carried out the attack had to go looking for him).

I've decided that I no longer like this idea. For two reasons: 1) the illegal operation plot device is something of a trope that has been used in everything from Bourne to SAFE HOUSE. And 2) it's too limited in its scope; the plot only really applies to MI6, so it feels like there are no stakes involved, no consequences for Javier Bardem's success outside hurting MI6.

Instead, I have another idea as to what the story might be about: harnessing the power of mass hysteria as a weapon. The idea would be to create a mass panic by planting a simple idea - like the sky falling - and then watching the hysteria take over, doing far more damage than the villains could do normally. It would be a case of convincing the people that they are under attack, and that the government is powerless to do anything about it.